Thoughts of Quitting General Surgery Residency: Factors in Canada

“…Countries of study origin included Australia, Canada, China, Greece, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ireland, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. The studies were published between 1996 and 2017 inclusive.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic review of the prevalence, impact and mitigating strategies for bullying, undermining behaviour and harassment in the surgical workplace

Halim

Riding

2018

British Journal of Surgery

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“…Involvement with academic activities at the undergraduate level or medical school level may prove to be a marker for this specific career intent, although this study and others have shown a nonsignificant trend toward increased attrition with increasing age, and so years spent in research may become a confounding factor. 9 The finding that residents reporting serious consideration to leave were significantly less likely to enjoy their work but felt that it was too late to change career paths is a potentially concerning one. A longitudinal assessment of residents through the early years of practice to determine what long-term effects may result could yield useful insight into the difficulties encountered by some newly independent practitioners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once the investigative team felt satisfied that these were acceptable, the same survey was distributed to all 17 general surgery residency program directors in Canada for their approval and subsequent dissemination to the residents in their respective programs. 9 It was also distributed via the weekly email from the Canadian Association of General Surgeons. The same questionnaire was then adapted to make it less specific to general surgery by removing questions regarding activities that were not applicable to trainees in the other 8 specialties (e.g., satisfaction with colonoscopy training).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 A recently published study by our group has sought to determine whether or not the same phenomenon was occurring among residents in comparable Canadian general surgery programs. 9 However, to our knowledge, no data presently exist to see if residents enrolled in other Canadian surgical specialty residency programs harbour the same intents as their general surgery peers. This study was conducted with a view to addressing this deficit in the literature.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Attitudes and factors contributing to attrition in Canadian surgical specialty residency programs

Adams¹,

Ginther²,

Neuls³

et al. 2017

cjs

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Background:We recently studied attrition in Canadian general surgical programs; however, there are no data on whether residents enrolled in other surgical residencies harbour the same intents as their general surgical peers. We sought to determine how many residents in surgical disciplines in Canada consider leaving their programs and why.Methods: An anonymous survey was administered to all residents in 9 surgical disciplines in Canada. Significance of association was determined using the Pearson χ 2 test. The Canadian Post-MD Education Registry (CAPER) website was used to calculate the response rate. Results:We received 523 responses (27.6% response rate). Of these respondents, 140 (26.8%) were either "somewhat" or "seriously" considering leaving their program. Residents wanting to pursue additional fellowship training and those aspiring to an academic career were significantly less likely to be considering changing specialties (p = 0.003 and p = 0.005, respectively). Poor work-life balance and fear of unemployment/ underemployment were the top reasons why residents would change specialty (55.5% and 40.8%, respectively), although the reasons cited were not significantly different between those considering changing and those who were not (p = 0.64). Residents who were considering changing programs were significantly less likely to enjoy their work and more likely to cite having already invested too much time to change as a reason for continuing (p < 0.001). Conclusion:More than one-quarter of residents in surgical training programs in Canada harbour desires to abandon their surgical careers, primarily because of unsatisfactory work-life balance and limited employment prospects. Efforts to educate prospective residents about the reality of the surgical lifestyle and to optimize employment prospects may improve completion rates.Contexte : Nous avons récemment étudié les taux d'attrition dans les programmes de chirurgie générale canadiens; toutefois, on ne dispose pas de données pour déterminer si les résidents inscrits dans d'autres programmes de chirurgie ont les mêmes intentions que leurs collègues de chirurgie générale. Nous avons voulu savoir combien de résidents des disciplines chirurgicales au Canada envisagent de quitter leur programme et pourquoi.Méthodes : Tous les résidents de 9 disciplines chirurgicales au Canada ont passé un sondage anonyme. La portée de la corrélation a été déterminée à l'aide du test χ 2 de Pearson. Le site Web du Répertoire canadien sur l'éducation post-MD (RCEP) a été utilisé pour calculer le taux de réponse.Résultats : Nous avons reçu 523 réponses (taux de réponse de 27,6 %). Parmi les répon-dants, 140 (26,8 %) envisageaient « peut-être » ou « sérieusement » de quitter leur programme. Les résidents qui souhaitaient suivre une formation de surspécialité et ceux qui aspiraient à une carrière universitaire étaient notablement moins susceptibles d'envisager un changement de programme (p = 0,003 et p = 0,005, respectivement). Les problèmes de conciliation travail-famille et la crainte ...

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Bullying, Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and the Fear of Retaliation During Surgical Residency Training: A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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Background The negative effects of bullying, discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment (BDHS) on wellbeing and productivity of surgical residents in training have been well documented. Despite this, little has changed over the past decade and these behaviors continue. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of each abusive behavior experienced by residents, identify the perpetrators, and examine the reporting tendency. Methods A systematic review of articles published between 2010 and 2020 in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases was performed following PRISMA guidelines. The following search terms were used: bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, abuse, residency, surgery, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, otolaryngology, obstetrics, gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, and training. Results Twenty-five studies with 29,980 surgical residents were included. Sixty-three percent, 43, 29, and 27% of surgical residents experienced BDHS, respectively. Female residents reported experiencing all BDHS behaviors more often. Thirty-seven percent of resident respondents reported burnout, and 33% reported anxiety/depression. Attending surgeons, followed by senior co-residents, were the most common perpetrators. Seventy-one percent did not report the behavior to their institution. Fifty-one percent stated this was due to fear of retaliation. Of those who reported their experiences, 56% stated they had a negative experience reporting. Conclusion Our review demonstrates high prevalence rates of BDHS experienced by residents during surgical training, which have been associated with burnout, anxiety, and depression. The majority of residents did not report BDHS due to fear of retaliation. Residency programs need to devise methods to have a platform for residents to safely voice their complaints.

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Thoughts of Quitting General Surgery Residency: Factors in Canada

Cited by 25 publications

References 19 publications

Systematic review of the prevalence, impact and mitigating strategies for bullying, undermining behaviour and harassment in the surgical workplace

Systematic review of the prevalence, impact and mitigating strategies for bullying, undermining behaviour and harassment in the surgical workplace

Attitudes and factors contributing to attrition in Canadian surgical specialty residency programs

Bullying, Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and the Fear of Retaliation During Surgical Residency Training: A Systematic Review

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